Trustworthy
by feeni3 wright
Summary: After the events of Turnabout Countdown, this is the tale of two people hit by the wrongdoings of Athena Cykes. They share a quiet moment together. Oneshot, no pairings.


**So, a oneshot. I've had this one in my head for a while now. It explains what happened to Apollo before Athena got arrested. It may be slightly out of sync with the game, so it's a bit AU. In it, two people hit by the wrongdoings of Athena Cykes share a quiet, sad, moment. I upset myself when I wrote this out. I hope you feel moved by it too.**

 **Feenie**

 **X**

* * *

Evidence. That's the only thing that's going to help. Evidence to prove myself wrong? Hopefully. I mean, it can't be her. It can't. Can it?

I thrust my face into my hands. This is despair. Can a good friend be enemies with a best friend? I hope not. It doesn't seem natural. There has got to be a mistake somewhere.

But it's the look in her eyes. The look that say sadness and despair, but also that says something else, dark, hidden, forgotten even. That's why I put this bandage on, anyway. To stop myself from seeing it. But the question is still there.

Could Athena Cykes have murdered my best friend?

All of this blinked through my mind as I walked up to Mr Wright's desk. He was typing away on his computer. Athena and Trucy were leaning over him, proof reading and giggling. It was as it always was in the office.

I coughed quietly. All three of them looked up as I did so.

"Sorry, but I'll be taking a leave of absence." I said, hiding the emotions running through me.

Phoenix and Trucy gasped.

Athena reacted quickly. "Wait, what do you mean by a leave?"

I did not answer.

"Can you at least give me a reason why?" Mr Wright seemed angry inside, but also concerned. I swallowed.

"I can only say that this something that I must settle on my own."

Carefully, I walked to the door. I could feel the three pairs of eyes boring into my back. As I turned to shut the door, I saw Athena. And it was those eyes again. The eyes that showed so much sadness. I ushered them away from myself and left the building.

It was raining outside. That wasn't a new thing to me, but it made me more and more upset as I walked. I was determined to keep a straight face.

It was a very long walk to the Cosmos Space Centre, but I really didn't care at that point. The whole world seemed pointless… rejecting… unloving.

At last, I saw the top of the tallest building of the centre, and the gantry containing the damaged rocket. It was painful to remember, but I knew I had to face my fears at this point.

As I walked closer and closer to the building, it towered more and more over me. It was like a vulture, circling round and round over its prey. I was the prey.

Making nothing of it, I walked through the glass door and began my investigation. I entered in the name of the Wright and Co. Law Offices, and they let me straight.

First of all, I checked the lounge. It was an odd place. A projection of a dinosaur was shown on the screen in the corner. It creeped me out a little, but it was irrelevant.

There was nothing convincing in there. At least, nothing that I could find.

I checked the spaceship, but it wielded no results. My final port of call was the robotics lab.

By the time I got there, my heart was heaving, screaming that I shouldn't trust Athena.

I opened the door carefully, as there may have been others inside, investigating and such. I couldn't see anyone, so I entered carefully and quietly. The room was untidy, files and robot parts were strewn over most of the desks and tables. Across the room, there was a single robot head, staring at me as if I was the bane of the area, but of course it made no movement.

As I sat down on one of the chairs that wasn't covered in odds and ends, the door swung open. A woman walked, and I recognised her from my previous investigation.

"Oh, um, hi, Ms Blackquill." I exclaimed. I was nervous, she was a harsh woman.

"You again?" she exclaimed. She had an angry smile piercing her lips ever so slightly.

"Me again, sorry." I replied.

"Well, don't touch anything that looks or smells important." She said. Then she laughed slightly at her joke. I felt the need to agree, so I laughed back. I sounded like a goat, so I felt like banging my head against the table. I was thick.

"Thank you." I said, nervously, because she now probably thought I was an idiot. I turned back to the papers on the desk.

As I looked through, I saw some notes about another incident that had happened. A woman had been killed in the lab. I looked up the people involved, I was surprised. Simon Blackquill was apparently the murderer. So that was what he was serving time for.

The victim's name was Metis Cykes. Wait… surely not? She can't have been related to…

Athena Cykes.

It was right there, on the page. Athena Cykes was a witness to her mother's death. But what if she wasn't just a witness?

Oh my god. She killed her own mother and now she killed Clay.

I started to breath heavily. I felt like dying at any point. Sweat ran down my forehead. I was in a daze. Visions of a friend murdering innocent people. It was horrible. I was so disorientated, I slipped away into a quiet sleep.

* * *

In my dream, I saw Athena. She was brandishing a gun, and smiling a wicked smile. Then, she dissolved, and became Mr Wright, shouting at me, yelling silent objections. Behind him, Trucy tipped her hat, with a blank expression on her face. Then the image became Clay, a comforting face, but also one of great pain and sadness. He was calling out to me. Apollo. Apollo.

"Apollo!" Aura yelled. I woke up with a start. I was still in the robotics lab, lying on the floor. Kneeling beside me, I could see the face of Aura.

"Oh god… Athena." I said, without thinking. All I thought about was Athena and how evil she really was.

"Athena's not here. Sit up, come on." She said. She was trying her very best to sound angry, but you didn't need a mood matrix to tell that she was really worried.

"Al-Alright." I exclaimed. I had obviously passed out. Slowly, I began to move the top half of my body. I was shaking.

"Okay… Ah! There are some blankets over there." Aura said hurriedly. She walked to the other side of the room and took one of the sheets that lay in a neat pile in the corner. Carefully, she unfolded it and, after walking back over to me, draped it over my shoulders.y

"Are you feeling better now, then?" She asked. Her voice was wavering.

"I'm fine, th-th-thanks." I replied, stuttering in between. But I knew I wasn't fine.

"What made you faint like that?" she asked.

"Ah, well, it was nothing really, just feeling funny." I lied.

"Seriously? That was the worst lie in the world. Try again."

I swallowed hard. I knew she knew about the files on the desk, what did she care about Athena?

"My friend… I can't trust her anymore." I exclaimed, nervously. She wasn't surprised.

"Do you mean… Cykes? Athena Cykes?" She exclaimed.

I wasn't sure I wanted to divulge that information. But then I thought of the pain that Athena had caused me, and many others. So I nodded.

"Oh… right." Aura said. Her face changed from one of confidence to one of grief and despair. She had been thinking about it too.

I continued. "I don't think I can trust her anymore. And I have found no evidence to prove myself wrong."

Aura sighed. She sat down on the floor next to me. She seemed on edge.

"I feel your pain." She explained.

She looked exhausted. I hadn't seen her like this yet, her face showed fatigue and despair. It was slightly awkward.

Carefully, I raised my bandaged right arm into the air, and placed it around her shoulder. She grasped my hand slowly.

We just sat there for a few minutes. It was nice to be in the company of someone who had had the same problem.

Aura broke the silence. "It's okay, you can get through it. I did."

I coughed. "Well, it's easier for you. You don't have to face the pain of seeing her every day."

"Neither do you, Apollo." She exclaimed, looking up at me. I looked down at her. Then we both turned away.

We sat there, silent for another few minutes. The lab was silent.

Finally, I stood up. I decided I wasn't done here. "There must be something. I can't give up just yet."

Aura didn't move. "You such as much as you need to. But I never found my evidence. I doubt you will too."

I gave her a sad smile and left the room.


End file.
